Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 355: Ch.354 Goddess Struck Down

"I'm going to chase her. You don't have a problem with that, do you?" Su Ming removed the divine gold Gauss rifle from his back, loading the divine gold bullet.

"No problem, just remember to come back and tell me how it performs." Hephaestus pointed upwards with his hand, signaling that Su Ming could do as he pleased. "And next time you come here, try to come through magic or underwater. Flying in is too conspicuous. If Athena wants to fight you in my home, I'll suffer great losses."

"Relax, I'm just going to have a bit of fun with your sister. I won't kill her."

"Can you kill the moonlight? If you can't eliminate the moonlight, then you can't kill her." Hephaestus seemed unconcerned, as fighting between gods was too common. As long as both sides used weapons forged by him, it was all fair play.

"Did you know? When I came back this time, the Justice League destroyed the moon to welcome me." Su Ming placed the big gun over his shoulder as Stranglehold took him into the air. "So yes, I can kill the moonlight, if I want."

With that, he rocketed into the sky, flying towards the direction from which the arrow had come.

Hephaestus scratched his head, the wind from Su Ming's flight scattering sparks from his forge. He was beginning to wonder if Eris had figured out Su Ming's intentions and purposefully provoked this.

The women in his family were all unpredictable. Love could follow hate in an instant. Could this mortal truly become a god? Unfortunately, Hephaestus wasn't bright enough to come to a conclusion. After thinking for a while, he returned to forging. Time would tell.

Su Ming, meanwhile, had already located his target in the distance.

Artemis, as depicted in DC Comics, was mostly portrayed as a short-haired, graceful woman. She radiated a soft glow like moonlight, with antlers like a reindeer atop her head. Her entire body was unclothed, appearing as a silhouette with no distinct features.

However, as a goddess, she could also manifest herself as a mortal, a very trendy blonde beauty.

Before the universe's reboot during the Flashpoint event, there was another girl named Artemis who was part of the Young Justice team, even using her real name as her codename without anyone discovering her true identity. That Artemis was the daughter of "Tigress" and "Sportsmaster," as well as Cheshire's sister—a family of villains. She initially wanted to be a hero, but after various misfortunes, she ended up becoming the villainess "Tigress."

After briefly recalling these useless details, Su Ming had closed in to a favorable distance.

He took a deep breath, filling his lungs, and then held his breath to lower his heart rate. His eyes locked onto the fleeing goddess.

He removed his cape and had it form a platform. Kneeling on it, he propped up the Gauss rifle.

No need to use a scope—the shooting parameters calculated through spatial awareness and his brain were more reliable.

Without any deliberate aiming process, he simply pulled the trigger. A golden electric arc shot from the muzzle. Before he even felt any recoil, he saw the goddess stumble and fall into the ocean several kilometers away.

"Indeed, Gauss weapons live up to their name. The trajectory was perfectly straight. Nice."

The electromagnetic effect caused the surrounding air to ionize, crackling faintly. A few arcs of electricity danced over Su Ming's armor.

In terms of power, range, and bullet speed, he was satisfied.

He stowed the rifle back onto his shoulder, and Stranglehold obediently returned to form his cape, carrying Su Ming back to Washington.

Out at sea, Artemis poked her head out of the water, her silver antlers resembling coral sticking out of the ocean.

She spat out water, touching her right butt cheek where she had just been shot. It felt like being smacked hard, painful and embarrassing, which had caused her to fall into the water.

She weakly punched the water surface and sighed. How could anyone say this Su Ming from another universe was a mere mortal?

What kind of mortal gets shot through the heart by the goddess of the hunt and comes out unscathed?

She rose from the sea, disheartened, and flew back to Olympus. She needed to discuss this with Athena.

Meanwhile, Hera watched everything from her celestial mirror, smiling contentedly. No one had figured out her true plan. Everyone's assumptions were off-track, and that was precisely what she wanted.

Su Ming returned to the Hall of Justice just in time to see the Suicide Squad boarding a helicopter from A.R.G.U.S. Amanda Waller had clearly received pressure from high-ranking officials and was forced to withdraw her team.

But Waller was still plotting after the Totality, though now from the shadows.

Could Su Ming allow her to succeed?

Of course not.

He took a pair of blue gloves from his backpack, covertly handing them to Deadshot.

"Take these back as your proof. I got them from the Totality. They're the most valuable item inside. Tell Amanda our cooperation was smooth, and your mission was completed."

In reality, the thing was a creation of Kang the Conqueror, a futuristic piece of black-tech from the 30th century.

With the way DC's technological advancements worked, trying to figure out a piece of Marvel's future tech would keep Amanda Waller busy for a lifetime.

Tony Stark himself couldn't even understand Kang's devices, so what chance did A.R.G.U.S. have?

The gloves were of no use to Su Ming. He could already manipulate the X-metal in his body to take on various forms. It would be more effective to give them away, mislead Amanda, and make it easier to borrow the Suicide Squad again.

After demonstrating the gloves' functions, Deadshot wore an utterly perplexed expression, as though staring at a giant question mark.

Deadshot knew that anything he couldn't understand was usually of great value.

Deadshot accepted the gloves. This way, he and the others would earn reduced sentences and other perks. He was grateful.

They bumped fists, and Deadshot boarded the helicopter. As for the true value of the gloves, he'd let Amanda Waller deal with that.

He just wanted to see his daughter.

Harley walked over hesitantly, unexpectedly coming close to Su Ming. Leaning towards his ear, she whispered, "If you get the chance, come save me. I'll make it worth your while."

She grinned, winking as if to say, "You know what I mean," before boarding the helicopter.

Harley's "reward" was probably some prank cake or a bunch of fireworks—Su Ming knew exactly what to expect.

However, since the enemy lineup now included Joker, maybe breaking Harley out of A.R.G.U.S. would be a good move. With her insight into the Joker and her unconventional thinking, it could be an advantage.

Suddenly, a thought crossed Su Ming's mind. Last time, he gave Joker the head of the Batman Who Laughs in exchange for the Comedian's pin.

But that head... was it really dead?